Paul Pierce had spent his entire NBA career with the Boston Celtics as their go-to player. Especially when Rajon Rondo went down during the 2012-2013 season.

Now with Brooklyn, a team with many stars already in place that can help the Nets get over the hump and back into title contention, Pierce told the Boston Globe he's now a "glorified role player" and not the go-to star.

Paul Pierce was the go-to player for everything in Boston after Rajon Rondo went down with injury. (AP Photo)

“There will definitely be less pressure on me on this ball club than there was in Boston,” Pierce told the newspaper. “In Boston, I was the No. 1 primary option. Here we have so many options. We have young All-Stars on this team. My job is to be more of a glorified role player, as Doc (Rivers) used to always say, with the guys we have."

Pierce and Kevin Garnett join a cast in Brooklyn that already included Deron Williams, Joe Johnson and Brook Lopez.

“With my abilities to do so many things, there’s going to be nights where I’m not going to score a bunch of points. I can do other things to help this club win. With the combination of these guys, we’re going to take pressure off each other.”

Pierce says adding Andre Kirilenko to the mix will only add to the title hopes the Nets already have.

“That move was such a big move for our team, for me,” Pierce said. “When you sign a guy like Andrei Kirilenko, it solidifies your perimeter, it gives you the versatility that you need. We have guys that can shoot the three, we’ve got guys that can post up, and to have an elite defender who can guard two, three, maybe four positions—he really gives us great versatility, and I think that’s what you need. That’s the direction you really see the NBA going, to have versatile players who can play multiple positions, and you put your best player on the floor.”

Both Garnett and Pierce said this team, like the 2007-2008 Celtics, were built to win immediately. Garnett said that doesn't add pressure for him.

“This pressure is nothing I haven’t seen before nor faced,” Garnett said. “The pressure is going to be on everybody here. The pressure is going to be on us to win early. Obviously, it’s been done before, but we’re trying to copy that here. To embrace this and keep going and try to bring a presence here is what the goal is, to be honest. We definitely have a good start to this (title quest). The bones are here. We didn’t really trade away a bunch of talent or a bunch of big pieces."

Said Pierce: “We’re coming in with championship experience. Before we all were hungry for a championship. But (now) we have guys on this team that are very hungry for a championship."